Emily Bazon Sticks And Stone Summary

Emily Bazelon’s Sticks and Stones focuses mainly on the stories of four students from various schools in the United States. The students Bazelon focused on were Monique, an African American girl who was bullied, Jacob, a homosexual boy who was bullied, and the stories of Flannery, a girl who was accused of bulling the fourth student, a girl named Phoebe, to death. Bazelon interviewed these students and the friends, family, and administrators who surrounded them to provide the reader with stories through which they can understand the experience of bullying victims. Bazelon uses these stories as examples and starting points for discussions about the experiences of bullies and their victims, the rights of bullied students, and the programs and

policies that exist to deal with bullying.
Monique’s story started with a new hairstyle two girls who claimed that Monique stole the style from one of their cousins. The situation escalated with little effective help from school administrators until the two girls moved away. Monique thought that she was free from torment until a new group of girls started harassing her to the point where threats were made online, Monique’s family felt the need to call the police, and eventually Monique was pulled out of school. Pulling Monique out of school led to an entirely new round of problems that Monique herself was hardly involved in. Monique’s mother, school administrators, and lawyers had a standoff about Monique’s situation until finally Monique switched schools and the issues with her previous district were dropped.
Monique’s story opened the first part of the book and set up the book’s requirements for considering certain behaviors bullying. According to Bazelon, if a behavior is going to be labeled bullying it must involve verbal or physical aggression that is repeated over time and contains a power differential. According to the Bazelon, this power differential comes from the different social statuses between bully and victim but also from the fact that, on average, the students who are victimized tend to have more anxiety, insecurity, and less self-esteem before the bullying even begins.
Monique’s story also brought about a discussion on why children become bullies. Bazelon theorized that bullies may be or have been bullied themselves, either by other students or at home, and that perhaps bullies might benefit from therapy as much as their victims would. Bazelon also cited the fact that adolescent brains are not fully developed, and thus kids are more impulsive. The impulsiveness feeds into another factor, peer pressure. Kids are much more likely to act in risky or delinquent ways when they are with other kids (Agnew and Brezina, 2015).
The solutions that were attempted by the administrators in Monique’s school were common in many of the other institutions Bazelon studied and these intervention programs were often ineffective because they were not implemented consistently or the schools did not follow every step of their plans. One such plan that failed was mediation meetings. Administrators would have victims sit down with their bullies and try to talk about their situation and their feelings. This tactic may work for students of equal status, but the power differential between victims and bullies prevents this from being an effective method to reduce bullying. Victims are often afraid to confront their tormentors because there is a chance that anything they say will come back to haunt them when the bully resumes their aggressive behavior.
Jacob’s story had elements that were similar to Monique’s. Jacob’s school was also led by a group of unsupportive administrators and his parents were made to feel like the school did not care about Jacob’s situation, even when Jacob experienced physical violence. Jacob tried to be himself and an out member of the LGBTQ+ community but was picked on and admonished for being out too visibly. Like Monique, Jacob’s parents brought lawyers into the situation, but the difference is that Jacob and his family sued the school Jacob attended.
Jacob’s story brought out more specifically LGBTQ+ issues and the legal rights of students. Bazelon pointed out that LGBTQ+ students are protected under Title IX, and so it is possible for them to sue administrators that allow students to deal with discrimination. Jacob and his family won their case and received a monetary settlement that covered legal fees and counseling for Jacob. The school was also forced to provide training for the staff so that future students would not have to endure the same situation that Jacob dealt with.
The story of Flannery and Phoebe, an Irish transfer student, brings out some of the heaviest conversations in the book. Phoebe was depressed to the point of self-harm before she had even arrived at her new school and getting involved with the boyfriends and ex-boyfriends of other students led to conflicts with the girls who felt attached to those boys. Phoebe became a topic for discussion and derision for other students online and at school she had to endure slut-shaming from girls who were and were not involved in her situation. Ultimately, Phoebe ended up committing suicide when she felt that she could no longer handle the way she was being treated by the other students and by life.
Phoebe’s story brought up the issues of suicide, media, and the responsibility of bullies for the actions of their victims.

The justice theory that saved the six students who had tormented Phoebe from being prosecuted with the full power of the law was the idea that the students should be held accountable for their actions but they could not be held accountable for the actions Phoebe took in response. The media did not agree, and the six students had their names dragged through the mud before, during, and after the trial. The situation was framed in a way that denied the possibility that Phoebe may have had other stressors and placed full blame for her death on her fellow students. Ultimately, it was up for the reader to decide how to feel.

Overall, the claims made in Sticks and Stones seemed to be in line with what I have learned in other classes and read in other texts. Some of the author’s biggest claims related to how and why bullies bully others, the imperfect way that school systems attempt to handle bullying situations and the positive and negative impacts that bullying prevention programs can have, and the need for interventions outside of school. Through these points, Bazelon provides a comprehensive understanding of the experiences of bullying victims and how they are treated by their bullies and their author

figures.
One of the points made by Bazelon about the causes of bullying was the fact that bullies are often products of their environment and this is often true. In some cases, bullies may have been bullied themselves, may be trying to prove something, or may be taking out frustrations from home on peers at school (Agnew & Brezina, 2015). In these cases, it is important for schools to recognize who the bullies are and to try to find ways to help the bully cope in ways that do not harm others. This would not work for all bullies, however, as some of the girls Bazelon spoke to claimed that picking on others was simply how people were supposed to behave in school. One was expected to “play the game” by mocking others in return and this school-wide understanding of the process shows the influence that peers can have. In these cases, it would be better to make attempts to get bullies to understand the ways in which their actions and words affect others – even the students who know how to play the game. If some of the more influential students could start to see the negative consequences of their actions and change their ways, administrators could use peer pressure to their advantage and ideally change would spread throughout the institution.
At the administrative level, schools that do adopt programs that have been successful in preventing bullying in other schools, administrators often fail to successfully end bullying behaviors in their institutions for a couple of reasons that Bazelon discusses. Anti-bullying programs are only effective when they are implemented properly and consistently. Some schools try multiple programs at once or do not implement all parts of one program and this lack of focus and commitment is what causes programs to not be universally successful. Students, like young children, need clear, consistent rules and guidelines and the people in charge need to be prepared to follow the rules themselves (Agnew & Brezina, 2015; Siegler, DeLoache, & Eisenberg, 2011).
On the topic of prevention programs, Bazelon suggests that creating more rules to prevent bullying could infringe on the “mental space” of children and adolescents, and I believe that this is true to some extent. I believe that adolescents should be able to handle isolated incidents. It is reasonable for students to want to talk to others about altercations after the fact, but being called a name once in a while and or having short and far-between confrontations are situations that children should be able to handle on their own. Similar situations will continue to occur in the adult world, so children are building skills and resolution methods that will serve them for a long time. However, there are situations that children just do not have the tools to handle and schools need rules in place to protect the kids who are constantly and consistently bullied by the same individuals. Without consistent, prepared punishments for bullying, schools create an environment where children are having their mental space invaded in a different way. Bullying prevents victims from expressing themselves and from feeling good about themselves in general and this lowering of self-esteem can lead to problems with depression and anxiety later in life (Siegler, DeLoache, & Eisenberg, 2011)
Bazelon made the claim that students who are bullied find it easier to cope when they have positive support from parents, friends, and other community groups. This is in line with other findings. The students who do not cope well or do not manage to bounce back tend to be more isolated by their peers and have less access to positive coping resources (Agnew & Brezina, 2015). With positive coping resources such as family support, extracurricular activities, and inclusion in community groups, bullying victims can fight off feelings of isolation outside of their school life and know that they will always have support to turn to in some form or another.
No matter what prevention method a person sides with, it is difficult to deny that bullying is an issue that needs to continue to be monitored and studied in schools. Students deserve to feel safe and they should be able to learn without fear of being harmed by one of their fellow students. Communities, colleges, and various fields of work miss out on potential leaders and creators when students are held back from receiving a full education because of the distraction and mental trauma bullying can bring into a student’s life.